Mining for Sovereignty? Norwegian Coal Companies and the Quest for Supremacy over Svalbard 1916-1925
At the outbreak of the First World War there was virtually no Norwegian coalmining activity on the Spitsbergen archipelago. The handful of small coal companies that were formed in Norway around the turn of the century were either idle or had been bought up by foreign interests after a few years. Dur...
Published in: | Poljarnyj vestnik |
---|---|
Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English Russian |
Published: |
Septentrio Academic Publishing
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.7557/6.6571 https://doaj.org/article/02c82ec441fa43549c9f31906c025a1a |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:02c82ec441fa43549c9f31906c025a1a |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:02c82ec441fa43549c9f31906c025a1a 2023-05-15T18:29:38+02:00 Mining for Sovereignty? Norwegian Coal Companies and the Quest for Supremacy over Svalbard 1916-1925 Thor Bjørn Arlov 2022-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7557/6.6571 https://doaj.org/article/02c82ec441fa43549c9f31906c025a1a EN RU eng rus Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/vestnik/article/view/6571 https://doaj.org/toc/1500-7502 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-9671 doi:10.7557/6.6571 1500-7502 1890-9671 https://doaj.org/article/02c82ec441fa43549c9f31906c025a1a Poljarnyj Vestnik: Norwegian Journal of Slavic Studies, Vol 25, Iss 1 (2022) Svalbard Coal mining Literature (General) PN1-6790 Slavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languages PG1-9665 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7557/6.6571 2022-12-31T02:54:16Z At the outbreak of the First World War there was virtually no Norwegian coalmining activity on the Spitsbergen archipelago. The handful of small coal companies that were formed in Norway around the turn of the century were either idle or had been bought up by foreign interests after a few years. During the war, however, several new private companies were established, most notably the Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani in 1916. Two years later, in 1918–1919, the Norwegian government stated its desire to acquire full sovereignty over the archipelago. The wish was granted by the treaty of 9 February 1920 that came as a result of the peace negotiations in Paris. This paper reviews the role of the Norwegian coal companies in Norway’s quest for supremacy over Svalbard during and after the First World War. Were private enterprises an instrument of the Norwegian government’s ambitions or was it the other way around? It is argued that private companies were instrumental in moving the political authorities from a passive to an active stance regarding sovereignty during the last phase of the war and through the peace conference in 1919. Their primary concern was to protect their own vested interests. However, as soon as sovereignty was secured in 1920, it was the government that actively used the companies as instruments to improve Norway’s position on the archipelago before implementing the treaty and settling the property rights. Note: I use the official toponym ‘Svalbard’, although before 1925 ‘Spitsbergen’ was more commonly used. Article in Journal/Newspaper Svalbard Spitsbergen Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Norway Svalbard Poljarnyj vestnik 25 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English Russian |
topic |
Svalbard Coal mining Literature (General) PN1-6790 Slavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languages PG1-9665 |
spellingShingle |
Svalbard Coal mining Literature (General) PN1-6790 Slavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languages PG1-9665 Thor Bjørn Arlov Mining for Sovereignty? Norwegian Coal Companies and the Quest for Supremacy over Svalbard 1916-1925 |
topic_facet |
Svalbard Coal mining Literature (General) PN1-6790 Slavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languages PG1-9665 |
description |
At the outbreak of the First World War there was virtually no Norwegian coalmining activity on the Spitsbergen archipelago. The handful of small coal companies that were formed in Norway around the turn of the century were either idle or had been bought up by foreign interests after a few years. During the war, however, several new private companies were established, most notably the Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani in 1916. Two years later, in 1918–1919, the Norwegian government stated its desire to acquire full sovereignty over the archipelago. The wish was granted by the treaty of 9 February 1920 that came as a result of the peace negotiations in Paris. This paper reviews the role of the Norwegian coal companies in Norway’s quest for supremacy over Svalbard during and after the First World War. Were private enterprises an instrument of the Norwegian government’s ambitions or was it the other way around? It is argued that private companies were instrumental in moving the political authorities from a passive to an active stance regarding sovereignty during the last phase of the war and through the peace conference in 1919. Their primary concern was to protect their own vested interests. However, as soon as sovereignty was secured in 1920, it was the government that actively used the companies as instruments to improve Norway’s position on the archipelago before implementing the treaty and settling the property rights. Note: I use the official toponym ‘Svalbard’, although before 1925 ‘Spitsbergen’ was more commonly used. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Thor Bjørn Arlov |
author_facet |
Thor Bjørn Arlov |
author_sort |
Thor Bjørn Arlov |
title |
Mining for Sovereignty? Norwegian Coal Companies and the Quest for Supremacy over Svalbard 1916-1925 |
title_short |
Mining for Sovereignty? Norwegian Coal Companies and the Quest for Supremacy over Svalbard 1916-1925 |
title_full |
Mining for Sovereignty? Norwegian Coal Companies and the Quest for Supremacy over Svalbard 1916-1925 |
title_fullStr |
Mining for Sovereignty? Norwegian Coal Companies and the Quest for Supremacy over Svalbard 1916-1925 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mining for Sovereignty? Norwegian Coal Companies and the Quest for Supremacy over Svalbard 1916-1925 |
title_sort |
mining for sovereignty? norwegian coal companies and the quest for supremacy over svalbard 1916-1925 |
publisher |
Septentrio Academic Publishing |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7557/6.6571 https://doaj.org/article/02c82ec441fa43549c9f31906c025a1a |
geographic |
Norway Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Norway Svalbard |
genre |
Svalbard Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Svalbard Spitsbergen |
op_source |
Poljarnyj Vestnik: Norwegian Journal of Slavic Studies, Vol 25, Iss 1 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/vestnik/article/view/6571 https://doaj.org/toc/1500-7502 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-9671 doi:10.7557/6.6571 1500-7502 1890-9671 https://doaj.org/article/02c82ec441fa43549c9f31906c025a1a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7557/6.6571 |
container_title |
Poljarnyj vestnik |
container_volume |
25 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766212808641347584 |